Unravel is a game about a creature made of yarn that goes on a journey to find the missing pieces of its creator’s photo album. Yarny, the lovable yarn creature, does this by exploring worlds based off of photographs sitting around the house to find little adornments that he attaches to the photo album to restore its blurred contents.

At its core, Unravel is a platformer where you utilize the yarn that comprises our knitted hero’s very being to solve puzzles. As you solve these puzzles, you’ll find secrets and gradually uncover the history of our adorable protagonist’s creator through scenes depicted in the background of the game’s stages and through a combination of inspirational messages and pictures within the gradually-unlocked photo album.

Outland came out in 2011 and didn’t receive much attention despite critical praise from all corners. Developed by Housemarque and published by Ubisoft, Outland was one of the games in the recent resurgence of the Metroidvania subgenre.

In Outland, two Goddesses – one light, one dark – created the world long ago. Circumstances drove them to wish to see it remade but a hero intervened, stopping them and imprisoning them within their temple. Many years have passed, their ire for the world has grown in their captivity… and now they seek to break free of their temple so they can once again unmake the world.

A man, ill and weary, seeks help from an elder and begins a quest that leads him to stumble upon the remnants of the ancient hero’s spirit. The spirit then merges with his body and he is empowered and his quest changes from one of self-preservation to an attempt to save the world. [Read more…]

This week I’d like to highlight some games that were created thanks to Kickstarter – specifically games I helped fund through Kickstarter that should be coming over the next year. This list may sound a bit familiar, since some of these were expected to come out this year but have been delayed… but since they’re all almost certainly coming this year, lets start to build some hype for them shall we?

There are a some games from my childhood that I will always remember… games that gave me countless hours of fun and that I hold deep in my heart… games like Megaman X, Dungeon Keeper, Breath of Fire 3, Final Fantasy Tactics, among others. This may seem like a strange time to bring this up, but it’ll all make sense soon enough.

This week I’m going to be offering recommendations that are tailored for people who enjoyed Sabagebu. What I’m focusing on are the core aspects of Sabagebu… its high pace, its confidence, and that utter hilarious absurdity… I hope you like them!

Interested in getting your feet wet in the many worlds of anime? Looking for a game that won’t put too much pressure on you if you’re not familiar with gaming? Looking for that book that’ll get you hooked on reading forever? Well, that’s our theme this week – today I’ll be offering you some games, anime, and books that will be great either if you’re interested in seeing what the fuss is, or if you have a friend and you want the right introduction that won’t scare them off…